Would you be impressed if your 6 yo wrote this....?

My dd (6) would probably write something like that if she had read similar poems recently. She loves writing stories and poems, and playing about with words. She "borrows" plot lines and phrases, and I would guess that's what your friend's dd has done. I think it's lovely.

I agree with much of what has been said above. It is very likely that a lot of it reflects things she has read or heard - however writing it down like that spontaneously is still a mark of an able child and I would suspect very able. Especially impressed by the tidy writing. My son (now 7) has produced a lot of stuff that is similar in standard including echoes of words and phrases he's read. Mostly untidily written though getting a lot better now - with the lure of a "pen licence" to use a fountain pen (in year 3)... Increasingly over the last year he's looking to be quite gifted. I don't think his still pretty bright older sister would have produced such work at 6 or 7.

I would think that it was copied - agree with the poster above that the last line is very well phrased (and as she danced she sang a song.) I just read a wonderful story that I thought was dd2's retelling of a storybook she had read once. I was so impressed and then later realised it had been written by her friend... and finally figured out that she had copied the entire book out.

A school friend wrote a brilliant poem that started 'Twas the night before Christmas' It was read out in assembly and I felt soo jealous of her. Once the hm had finished reading he asked the dc to stay behind. She had copied it out of a book.

Even if it is pure pastiche it was good. Pastiche is what children do when they are asked to write a poem after studying poems. They don't reliably get the difference between the essentials of poetry, that they are being asked to replicate, and the variable features, that they are being asked to innovate.

And to some extent pastiche is probably what all but the best poets do.

So unless the piece was more or less copied, I'd say it was quite talented.

I once searched for several unusual poems I know from childhood trying to find the authors. About half didn't turn up, particularly if it wasn't the first line I could remember, or if I couldn't remember the exact (ie 1-2 words out) wording.So it could be the second verse, or slightly altered and wouldn't come out in google.

If you wanted to find out how original, you could discuss the poem and it's meaning. For example what does "bright and gay" mean? Why was she wearing flowers round her head?

Also children are big mimics. So if you say "write your own poem" like "The cat sat on the mat" a fair number will write (eg) "The horse sat on the mat" and think it's original.Dd1 went through a stage in year 5 where she thought doing a project mean finding a passage on google and going through the passage with a thesaurus and changing key words. She would then swear it was original.

I think if you want to know whether it is hers, or an imitation, probably need to see several examples of her poems. Either they will all look as good as that one-but one will be a well known one, showing she's copied it, the others will be nothing like as good, so probably that one was an imitation, or they will all be good and unknown in which case I suggest you offer to be her agent

There are various poems that school might have been looking at in relation to a topic, and then asked the children to write their own poems.

For example the poem "An Autumn Greeting" talks about a "dress of red and gold" and the poem "5 Little Leaves" talks about the leaves being "bright and gay". A child who enjoyed language and words might reuse these phrases if asked to write their own poem about a season of their choice.

I think it is a lovely poem, which certainly seems to show the child is very familiar with the way poetry works. As a parent, I would be very proud but maybe not assume it was 100% original.

Google isn't going to turn up things like that! Someone could run it thro university plagiarism software and it still probably wouldn't register. Old books and poems that aren't famous don't make it onto the www. Although of course, this one now has.

I'd assume it was copied or a 'cut and paste' job of a few different poems. Cute though

Ah but what is it MNetters who think it's copied? It doesn't seem to be on google where most things can be found? Although google does have some glitches for certain subjects and perhaps old fashioned poetry is one of them? I would love someone to find the poem. I challenge you! .

I love some of the language she uses though, thought I should say that after first being rather lacking in praise as I thought she'd copied it. Seems she hasn't. Most likely she got the first line from the Pigeons poem, but not the rest, some of which is beautiful. Well done her! .

I have 4 kids and my dd1, who is almost 8 was writing stories, songs and poetry at 6yrs. She is considered gifted and has an IEP. However, despite her poems and songs being really quite good, she would never have used the expression 'bright and gay' as I doubt she would have encountered such expressions. Nor would she ever have phrased the last line in such a mature way. She would almost certainly have written, 'she danced as she sang a song.'